Recreational vehicles, such as vans, are commonly fitted with passenger seating apparatus which is convertible into a bed. It is desirable, of course, to provide a seat and a bed affording utility and comfort which are not compromised by reason of the convertibility between the seat and bed orientations. It is also desirable to provide for conversion between the seat and bed orientations by simple manipulation requiring a minimum of manual effort. Further, such seating apparatus must meet the current governmental safety regulation which impose stringent standards regarding strength and stiffness. Also, the weight of the seating apparatus must be held to a minimum.
With the advent of down-sized vehicles, the prior art convertible seaating apparatus does not satisfy the needs and desires enumerated above. In my U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,229 granted June 3, 1975 for "Convertible Seat", seating apparatus is disclosed which is convertible between seat and bed orientations. However, the seating apparatus of that patent comprises two separate seats which coact with each other when unfolded to form one bed. Although the manual manipulation requires little effort and the operation is relatively simple, the single operating lever does require both forward and rearward actuation sequentially to change from seat to bed orientation.
I have heretofore constructed a single seat so that it is convertible to a bed. In particular, a single seat was constructed in accordance with my U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,229 and provided with a third cushion hingedly mounted on the seat back. The seat of this constructionwas converted to a bed by unfolding the seat back and bottom, in the manner described in the aforementioned patent, and also unfolding the third cushion so that all cushions were disposed horizontally. The rear edge of the third cushion support member was supported by a pair of cleats mounted on the rear door panel of the van. This arrangement required the operator to manipulate the operating lever to move the seat bottom forward and the seat back downward and then walk around and lift the third cushion into the horizontal position.
A general object of this invention is to provide convertible seat-bed apparatus which is especially adapted to meet the requirements of the new small van vehicles and to do so without the attendant disadvantages of the prior art seating apparatus.